Planned Parenthood wins restraining order on Women's Health Program

Updated 8:56 pm, Friday, October 26, 2012

AUSTIN - Planned Parenthood won a temporary restraining order on Friday, preventing the state of Texas from excluding the group from participating in the Women's Health Program.

Austin state District Judge Amy Clark Meachum set a Nov. 8 trial date on Planned Parenthood's claim that Texas' effort to bar the group from the Women's Health Program is invalid under Texas law.

Rochelle Tafolla, a Planned Parenthood vice president in Houston, called the lawsuit important "because nearly 50,000 women rely on Planned Parenthood for this basic health care through the Women's Health Program, and the lawsuit today is to preserve their access to health care. We are pointing out that there is language on the state books that says the state cannot do this when it jeopardizes federal matching funds."

The organization that provides birth control and women's health care lost a legal fight Thursday when a federal appellate court denied Planned Parenthood's request for a rehearing. State leaders want to keep Planned Parenthood from getting any taxpayer dollars because of the group's involvement in abortions.

Planned Parenthood lawyers are optimistic of winning in state court after losing their constitutional argument in the federal courts.

"We think we have a really good claim," Washington, D.C.-based lawyer Helene Krasnoff said. "We think the Legislature was incredibly clear that the Women's Health Program was to be a Medicaid program that was 90 percent funded by the federal government, and there are multiple provisions of Texas law that say that when there's some non-conformity with federal law, such that federal funds are no longer available, they would be inoperative."

"We remain committed to enforcing state law and making sure women have access to family planning services," said Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Kyle Janek. "We'll proceed with our plans to launch a state program on Nov. 1 that achieves both those goals."

Planned Parenthood's latest suit claims the state's "Affiliate Ban Rule" makes the provision "inoperative" if it causes Texas to lose federal matching funds for the Women's Health Program. The federal government, which has covered 90 percent of the cost of the Women's Health Program, declared that a rule excluding a comprehensive women's health care provider like Planned Parenthood impermissibly restricts the rights of patients and would not be allowed in the Medicaid program.

The rule will cost Texas taxpayers nearly $200 million over five years. Planned Parenthood officials say health care access for women in the program who rely on Planned Parenthood for breast and cervical cancer screenings, birth control, and testing for sexually transmitted infections would be jeopardized if Planned Parenthood is banned from the Texas Women's Health Program.

"If there was ever any doubt that Planned Parenthood is more concerned about its own interests than those of Texas women, there is no longer. Having lost on its constitutional claims, Planned Parenthood has now turned to Travis County judges in a desperate effort to find some way to keep making money off Texas taxpayers," Perry said of the group's state lawsuit. "In Texas, we've chosen to protect innocent life. We will keep fighting for life, and we will ultimately prevail."

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in August that Texas could stop funding Planned Parenthood's health centers, which has served about 50,000 low-income women - or, about 40 percent of Women's Health Program clients. The court on Thursday denied Planned Parenthood's request for a new hearing before the entire panel.

New rules due Nov. 1

The state's Women's Health Program now excludes clinics that are affiliates of abortion providers, even if those health centers are not directly involved with abortion services.

Planned Parenthood affiliates sued and the federal government began phasing out its funding for the program on grounds that the exclusions violate federal law. Texas is fighting the federal decision. The state is assuming all program costs. The new rules that exclude Planned Parenthood clinics take effect Nov. 1.

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